El Dorado Hills community rises to battle human trafficking

Don Chaddock / The Telegraph El Dorado Hills resident Vicki Zito, mother of a human trafficking victim, is co-founder of Run for Courage.

Friday night found about 50 gathered in El Dorado Hills to celebrate how far they’ve come in their fight against human trafficking.

Don Chaddock, Folsom Telegraph | Feb 3 2014

Ashlie Bryant, co-founder of Run for Courage, said there is still much to be done.

“What did we do in response to one child in our community being trafficked? We raised more than $550,000 to combat human trafficking. We have joined forces and partnered with 13 organizations preventing trafficking,” Bryant told the group. “We’ve had 15 core volunteers and 450 race-day volunteers who have responded year after year.”

Run for Courage was formed over a dinner table at Bryant’s home more than five years ago, in response to an El Dorado Hills teen being kidnapped and prostituted using Craigslist.

The mother of the victim, Vicki Zito, spoke of the trying time when her daughter was missing for eight days.

“It was a nightmare my family had to endure … If you think living in a small community keeps you immune, it doesn’t. It happens here. My ...